1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a press-molding machine that extrudes a melted resin into a sheet material to press so that the sheet material is pressed and molded into a predetermined shape. In particular, the present invention relates to press-molding performed between a lower die and the corresponding upper die.
2. Description of the Related Art
Press-molding machines are known in manufacturing automotive interior or exterior parts. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-144669 teaches a press-molding machine wherein a resin sheet, continuously extruded from an extrusion device, is received by a transfer device including a first conveyor belt, a second conveyor belt, and a framework. Furthermore, a cutting device for cutting the continuous resin sheet is disposed between the first and the second conveyor belts. The resin sheet is received on the first conveyor belt and then transferred to the second conveyor belt. The resin sheet, cut in a predetermined length by the cutting device, is transferred from the second conveyor belt onto the framework. With the framework moving, the resin sheet is further transferred to be molded between a lower die and the corresponding upper die.
However, the above-mentioned molding machine is constructed to have the extruding device, the cutting device, the transfer device, the lower die and the upper die, in a single component. Due to this, the entire machine needs to be supported by a large frame.
In addition, a press-molding machine disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-91224 is constructed so as to have a conveyor belt enter between opened dies. This requires that the clearance between the dies needs to be long enough to allow such interpositioning.
Such a larger machine needs more space for installation, which results in more workload for handling or installing the machine. Also, the maintenance or upgrading cost may be increased because the entire component should be replaced. Furthermore, the workload for post-processing the molded product or for recycling the scrap generated during the molding is not taken into consideration in the above-mentioned prior art machines.